Chico's Azevedo 15th in Bobsled World Championships

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Elana Meyers of Douglasville, Ga., and Katie Eberling of Palos Hills, Ill., secured the silver medla for the 2013 World Championship after a fierce battle in the final two runs of the women's bobsled race Saturday.

Chico's Emily Azevedo, a former Olympian, teamed with Jamie Greubel of Newtown, Pa., to place 15th.

Teams shuffled position in each run to create a ferocious race for the podium in the final heat.

Meyers and Eberling were in bronze medal position heading into today's final runs. The pair started today with a run of 1:07.59 to briefly move into second position. German legend Sandra Kiriasis clocked the fastest run of the third heat to overtake not only her own teammates Anja Shneiderheinze and Cathleen Martini, but also USA-1. With the Canadian and German teams ahead of them and two German teams closing in behind them, Meyers and Eberling knew they would have to post the best run of their career to stay in the medals.

"Before the final run I told my teammates that I would be crying at the finish either way, whether I won a medal or lost," Meyersa said. "I knew I had to take it all out there, and we didn't leave anything behind. I know we gave it everything we had in that last heat."

Meyers and Eberling responded to the tough competition by blasting the KOA sled off the block in 5.42 seconds to shatter their own start record set Friday.

"We knew it would be a battle and that every hundredth would count at the finish," Eberling said. "Anytime you're pushing behind Elana you know you're going to put up a good time."

Meyers steered the KOA sled to the finish in 1:07.16 to overtake Kiriasis, and their combined four-run time of 4:30.99 guaranteed Meyers and Eberling their second career World Championship medal. The difference between silver and bronze was 0.02 seconds.

Meyers is only in her third year as a pilot, and only the second season for Eberling. The pair impressed the field by winning the 2012 World Championship bronze medal on home ice in Lake Placid, N.Y., and have now solidified themselves as one of the best teams in the world after winning silver in St. Moritz.

Kaillie Humphries defended her title with brakeman Chelsea Valois. Although Humphries made a few small errors in the final run, she had enough time in the bank from the first day to claim gold by a large margin of 0.68 seconds with a total time of 4:30.31. The Canadians will be the first women's competitors to have their names etched on the inaugural trophy. Kiriasis and Franziska Bertels claimed bronze with a four-run combined time of 4:31.01.

Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J.) and Aja Evans (Chicago, Ill.) stepped it up Saturday with aggressive start times of 5.51 and 5.50 seconds. Third-year driver Fenlator struggled at the top of the course after bumping the wall and skidding through the first straight, and the team fell back two spots. Fenlator tidied up her final run to gain back the two spots, and USA-2 finished eighth with a four-run combined time of 4:32.65.

Greubel and Azevedo once again powered the Sliding for Hope sled off the block with impressive start times of 5.56 seconds in both heats today. Greubel is still learning the ropes as a third-year pilot and made a few small errors down the course that dropped three USA-3 three spots from yesterday. Greubel and Azevedo finished 15th with a four-run total of 4:34.15.

The women will get once more chance for World Championship gold in today's team event. For a complete timetable of tomorrow's events, visit www.usbsf.com.